Pacific Northwest accent

Hi. I'm from Chicago, and I want to try to put on a Pacific Northwest sounding accent. Can someone tell me the differences between the two accents and what pronunciations I need to change?

Trawicks Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:24 pm GMT

Its pretty much like GenAm, with the exception that it's COT-CAUGHT merged with a rounded vowel ([Q] or [O]).

Guest Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:51 am GMT

-Its pretty much like GenAm, with the exception that it's COT-CAUGHT merged with a rounded vowel ([Q] or [O]).-

This is not true at all. The merged vowel in Pacific Northwest is unrounded [A]. See Archive of English accents or ANAE (online demo has a sound sampler).
Roundedness of both Cot and Caught (or Don and Dawn) is regional sounding, typical of traditional Boston and Pittsburgh dialects (but many speakers there use [A] now). It is also a norm in Canadian English (according to Oxford Canadian English) although [A] is still very frequent in male newscasters and Atlantic Canadians.

Guest Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:58 am GMT

-I'm from Chicago, and I want to try to put on a Pacific Northwest sounding accent.-

you are playing safe:
1) If you use [A] in all these words
doll, dollar, swan, on, fall, falling, gonna, Donna, Don, Dawn, fall, follow, call, caller, collar, dog, fog, Hong Kong, wrong, long, song...
2) if you use [{] (or a vowel between [a] and [{] in fast, last, Jack...well
most a [{] words except for bag which has [e(i)] in Pacific Northwest, like
Minnesota, and unlike California
3) e's [E] should be semi-open: get [gEt], rest [rEst]...before the dark L they can be more open (almost [{]: yellow, California, Seattle)
4) [u]s should be fronted

I don't know very much about the speech of the Pacific Northwest, but Sarcastic Northwesterner definitely used a rounded vowel (and a rather close one at that) in a speech sample that he recorded. The thread is here: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t6561.htm , although the sample is no longer available.

Lazar Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:06 am GMT

It's true, though, the Northwestern subjects in the Speech Accent Archive all seemed to use unrounded vowels.

Guest Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:30 am GMT

>> [u]s should be fronted <<

Are you sure u's should be fronted? I thought they were very back and rounded in the NW.

>> Its pretty much like GenAm, with the exception that it's COT-CAUGHT merged with a rounded vowel ([Q] or [O]).
--------------
This is not true at all. The merged vowel in Pacific Northwest is unrounded [A].
----------
Sarcastic Northwesterner definitely used a rounded vowel (and a rather close one at that)
---------
It's true, though, the Northwestern subjects in the Speech Accent Archive all seemed to use unrounded vowels.

<<

Hmm. Wow. It sounds like it's all over the place. So, exactly which vowel should I use? I couldn't tell which vowel was used in the recording above.

Guest Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:57 pm GMT

Pronounce final -ing as [in] rather than [IN] in most dialects or [iN] in Cali English. Exceptions: 1 syllable words like sing [sIN].

Guest Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:51 pm GMT

I've heard [i:n] pronunciation BackEast too, around Wa(r)shington.

Jasper Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:41 pm GMT

To the GUEST who posted the PBS site:

Thank you for posting the informative article on the Pacific Northwest Dialect. Paradoxically, the same site answered a completely unrelated question that had puzzled me for ages.

I noted in another thread that while GA speakers find the SAE dialects unpleasant, speakers in the UK generally find those dialects pleasant; I'd posited the theory that perhaps different groups of sounds were being perceived. Your cite provided interesting insight on this topic. To wit:

"For example, Southern British English, Southern American English, and Australian and New Zealand English all have front pronunciations of the vowels in boot and boat (sounding like biwt and bewt), as well as low and more central pronunciation of the vowels in key and bay (sounding like Kay and buy),..."

Apparently, quite a few of the vowels between UK English and SAE are pronounced the same; this explains the different perceptions of SAE. Thank you.

1 Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:20 pm GMT

Young Northwesterners often have a fronted [u], but it is less common among older Northwesterners.

The [A] vowel is frequently used in the Northwestern variation of the cot-caught merger. A handful of older Northwesterners (mostly from Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland) use [A] for cot and [Q] for caught.

Some Northwesterners (mostly from rural areas in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, and Idaho) have a slight pin-pen merger. This is not very common in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Spokane, and other major Northwestern cities.

Canadian Raising for /aI/ is nearly standard, and the raising of /aU/ is sometimes found near the Canadian border.

Unlike many Chicago natives, Northwesterners do not participate in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. Although, some younger Northwesterners have adopted some forms of the California Vowel Shift and the Canadian Shift.

Northwestern dialects, as a whole, are still very young, and you will find many different variations.